9th July, 28 George II., (1754,) Evan Lloyd Vaughan, Esq., afterwards of Cors-y-gedol, was appointed to the office of constable, He died M.P. for the county of Merioneth, 4th December, 1791.

1792. Sir Robert Howel Vaughan, Bart., of Hengwrt and Nanney, (now Nannau,) to whom the constableship was committed in 1792, died 13th October in that year.

Edward Williames Vaughan Salesbury, Esq., of Rûg, second son of the last constable, succeeded his father in the office, and died in 1807, holding the rank of a field officer in the army, and being in one of the regiments of Guards.

Griffith ap Howel Vaughan, Esq., of Rûg and Hengwrt, lieutenant colonel commandant of the Royal Merioneth Militia, younger brother of the last constable, succeeded him in that office, which he now holds. He is also constable of the castle of Conwy.

W. W. E. W.

March 31st, 1346.

ON THE PROPOSED REMOVAL OF THE SEE OF LLANDAFF, IN 1717-18.

To the majority of those who live within the diocese of Llandaff, and probably to most readers, it is not generally known that "the antientest see in the kingdom" was nearly losing its location, possibly its very name, some 130 years ago. Such changes have ever been subjects of regret with the thinking portion of mankind from the rending of old associations which necessarily ensue, and thus we find in our own day as great efforts made to preserve the see of Bangor intact, as were exhibited in the case of Llandaff, in the reign of George the first.1

Browne Willis, in the preface to his Landaff, says he was, for several reasons, induced to give some account of that see, and that he was "thereunto excited by the rumour of a projected design to remove the see hence to Cardiff."

As in the case of St. David's, the history of the church of Llandaff was communicated to Willis by W. Wotton; and at pp. 33, 34, are the following paragraphs touching Cardiff:

1 We heartily pray that these efforts may be as successful. It is a disgrace to our time and nation that any such efforts should be needed. The proposal to merge the See of Bangor in that of St. Asaph will remain for ever as a stigma upon him who first originated so sacrilegious a scheme. - EDD. ARCH. CAMBR.

Its neighbourhood to Cardiff, which is a mile off, to the east, makes its decay'd condition the more remarkable. The inhabitants of that very elegant Town, have, within these few years, beautify'd their Church and furnished it with an organ, at their no small expence. The Steeple of that once Conventual Church, which is much the finest in South Wales, casts a shade upon Jasper's Tower, in the Church of Landaff, whilst the decorations at the top of the one, which are very fresh and curious, reproach the broken condition of the battlements of the other.

So near and so laudable an example will, I hope, incite those who are best able to raise the mother-church above its next adjoining daughter.

Amongst my Glamorganshire MSS. is the following curious and interesting letter, (No. I.) and knowing that Willis's original manuscripts were preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, I sent it for perusal and comment to my friend Dr. Bandinel, whose letter in reply is so elucidatory of the curious circumstances connected with the subject matter, that I think I cannot do better than adopt the plan he suggests, and make it prefatory to the MSS. themselves:

Bod. Lib., April 1, 1846.

MY DEAR SIR,—I hope you have not thought me forgetful of your wishes, from not having written you an earlier answer to your last letter; but I have had to make some tedious searches, and have got together some information, which I trust you will think, upon the whole, not unworthy of your attention.

I have, to my great surprise, found among Bishop Tanner's MSS., No. 146, page 150, an exact fac-simile of your letter. The same original address, the same paper and hand-writing, and what is very singular, the same alterations and corrections inserted, (with a few more inserted, as it appears, by Browne Willis,) signed J. D., and dated the same day. I have not been able to ascertain who made the alterations in your copy in the first few lines, which alterations do not appear in our copy.

In prosecuting my search, and examining Browne Willis's MSS., I found much more to surprise me, as doubtless it will you.

It appears that Willis intended to print a second Appendix to his Survey of Landaff, for, in the middle of his volume relating to that Cathedral, (marked No. 8, quarto,) I find, in his own hand-writing, Appendix to Landaff, containing 88 pages additional to the Appendix printed in the Survey of the Cathedral."

66

At page 73 of this second Appendix, is an older number of paging, with the following note by B. Willis, (but all crossed over by his pen,) thus in the margin:

"213. I guess at the pages; this is to come in after what you

are printing of the Incumbents of Landaff Diocese, which is to be followed by the Acct of the Sale of Church Lands, which may come to page 212 or 214; this follows and the other letter to the conclusion."

Through this, as I said before, Willis has drawn his pen, and added at the bottom, "this came as I remember too late."

At the top of the page he has written: "The three following letters having been unexpectedly communicated to the Author by some zealous friends to the Church of Landaff he conceives himself under an obligation to publish them."

The first letter is signed Ecclesiophilus, and recommends the removal to Cardiff.

The second letter is signed Philalethes, and dated Christ Church, Dec. 25, 1721, takes notice of a Preface to a Sermon just published, as "reflecting upon him and Mr. Wotton, and on the decay of Landaff Church."

The third is a remodelled copy of your letter and the one I find in Tanner, both signed J. D.; but this is signed M. N., underneath which two letters, B. Willis has written William Wotton. M. N., you will observe, are the last letters of his two names; the date is the same, excepting that the year is marked 1717-18. In your copy some one has added O. S. to the date; but what is more strange, is, that this letter is in the same hand-writing as the other two.

In the Preface to his Landaff Willis alludes to the rumour of a removal, and states also that Mr. Wotton has written at his request an Account of the Church, as he did for him also of St. David's. Not finding any help to unravel all this in the volume of Landaff Papers, I turned to those of St. David's, where I found this extraordinary note, in Willis's hand, on one of a series of letters: "Letters from Will. Wotton, B. D., who has absented himself out of Bucks, and lived in Wales, at Carmarthen, with Mr. Lord, and took the name of Dr. Edwards.'

Lord appears, I think, to have been a surveyor, and to have drawn out several ground plans for Willis; and, upon referring to some letters from him and to some papers accompanying the letters of Dr. Edwards, I feel convinced they were written by the same person. I suspect, therefore, that Wotton got Lord to copy these letters for him, for Wotton's own hand is a very bad one.

The hand-writing I seem to know, but cannot recollect where to have seen it before.

I am afraid I may have tired you with this long account, but I wished to state to you all I have discovered.

I think the letter of Ecclesiophilus should be printed with yours, as also the variations in our copy, and, doubtless, the remodelled letter, in which much is left out, some added, and some sentences a little altered, but the greatest part identically, and word for word the same.

I will not forget your List of Abbots, and any Rector of Neath I

may be able to trace out. Believe me, my dear sir, yours very

truly,

G. G. Francis, Esq., F. S. A., &c. Swansea.

B. BANDINEL.

(No. I.)

Sr

A letter to the Author on ye occasion of the Translation of ye See from Landaf to Cardiff.

As there has been a report spread in these parts, of a Projected design for ye Removal of ye See of Landaff to Cardiff on acet of ye Ruinous Condition of ye Cathedral Church of Landaff, so I cannot but approve of and commend yor Intention of Publishing an History of y church. As you are therefore engaged in ye undertaking, so you will I hope indulge me ye Liberty of Imparting my thoughts and refuting as well as I am able ye cheif and most plausible reasons handed abt and argued in behalf of this Translation, and shewing ye needlessness as well as Ill Effect of such a President, of wh in their order.

The first of these reasons alledged is ye Antient order or Canon made A° 1076 to Remove Cathedral Sees from obscure Villages to great and Populous Towns.

The second Plea made use of is ye Smallness of the Incombe belonging to Landaff, and yt it is not sufficient to maintain and support y Cathedral Church there in y decent Repair &c. as is requisite.

There are some other matters urged, viz. ye Benefit yt wd accrue to Cardiff and ye Diocese in General, and yt as Landaff is destitute of Proper accommodations and conveniencies for receiving ye Church members, It is not reasonable to Expect their residing at so forlorn a place unprovided of common Necessaries.

Now (Sir) as to ye Canon here mentioned, it is reasonable yt we look back to ye time wherein it was made, viz. in ye Reign of Will: ye Conqueror, and consider ye occasion and necessity of ye making it, yt by comparing it wth ye p'sent circumstances we may see how far it is applicable to our Purpose, and justifyes ye Question in hand.

You are well apprised of ye Historys of this age how unsafe it was to have any congresses in open Villages, and yt only Fortified Towns or Burghs then enjoy'd ye Benefit and Priviledges of Markets, is obvious from Doomsday Book, the want of wch was no doubt a great Barr or Hindrance to ye Church members resorting to and Exercising Hospitality; and also an obstruction to ye Clergy and Laity coming in their solemn procession to ye Mother Church of ye Diocess; whither they were wont frequently to repair: phaps in imitation of ye Jews, who went up Three times in y year to appear before ye Lord at Jerusalem in ye temple. By arguing thus I may possibly be lookt upon as a favourer of Superstition, wch I would not have Inferr'd; for 'tis well known in wt Reverence and Veneration our Cathedrals were held before ye Reformation; it being apparent in all

our Registers of Wills preserved in Each Respective Archdeaconry, yt scarce any Person, tho: of never so low rank, yt had anything to bequeath, but offered somew1, tho: never so small, to ye Cathedral, or Mother Church of the diocess.

But to return to ye Canon, 'tis observable yt ye Remedys had been provided and ye Redress obtained in some places Immediately after ye Enacting it. It has ever since by long discontinuance (viz. 600 years) been as it were abolished and Rendred obsolete; and was it now to be Revived and put in force, Allmost our Episcopall Sees might be disolved and Transplanted: for of ye 26 there are scarcely to be found ye odd six yt continue at this day ye greatest and most populous towns within their respective Diocesses.

To instance even in ye Richest of our Episcopal Sees, endowed wth Peculiar priviledges above ye rest, Is not Newcastle above 3 times as Bigg as Durham? Southwark, Portsmouth, and Gildford must be allowed to be more Populous and Flourishing then Winchester? Cambridge then Ely, &c. Nay, not to go out of Lincolnshire itself, wh City was one of ye first yt reaped ye Priviledge of this Act or canon (wthout looking into other parts of yt great Diocess) I conceive Boston and Stamford will be found to equal if not exceed Lincoln in number of souls. I shall here urge nothing as to ye conveniency of ye scituation of any of these places, yt being not so much regarded at ye first founding; and it Seems to have been less considered in Hen: ye 8th Reign on ye last Erection of Episcopal Sees. For is not Bristoll very remote from Dorsetshire? Chester you know stands on yo Edge of Wales, and is nearer St. Asaph, Bangor, and Litchfeild then any pts. of Yorkshire, in wch county, and also in Westmoreland & Cumberland, so great a Tract of it's Diocess lies. Wherefore wd not yt See have been as properly fixed at Manchester in Lancashire, where is a stately Collegiate Church, wch together wth ye town may vye wth Chester it self for Beauty and largeness? I will Instance but in one place more, because I have mentioned 3 Bppricks before ye Reformation. Is not Northampton a much more Considerable place then Peterborough, wch is in a manner quite out of ye Diocess scituate in a nook of ye County wthin half a mile or less of Lincoln and Ely Diocess? And, pray Sr answer me, wt wd have become of Peterborough had not an Episcopal See been Establisht there? wd it not have sunk to ye low Ebb of its Neighbouring Abby Towns, viz. Thorney, Crowland, and Ramsey, all wch before ye Reformation rivalled and stood in competition wth it?

I cannot omit being somewt particular on this Head, for I am not Insensible in Relation even to Durham, Winchester, and Ely, already mentioned (and I might Instance in Divers others) yt was it not for ye Residence of ye Church members it is to be suspected yt near half our Sees wd come to great decay as ye General part of ye Monastick Towns did, Divers of wch before ye Dissolution were as Eminent for their Riches and Populousness as they are now remarkable for their Poverty and being some of ye most desolate places in ye kingdom.

In short, Sir, had ye Church members continued to have resided at